Pfizer Slashes Sales Force

Updated from 4:50 p.m. EST

Pfizer's (PFE) new chief executive, Jeffrey Kindler, promised he would streamline the drug giant's operations, and now he's delivering.

The company said Tuesday after the market closed that it will slash 20% of its U.S. sales force as part of a strategy "to most effectively and efficiently meet customer needs as well as match the organization's business needs."

Pfizer has approximately 11,000 U.S. sales-representatives. The unlucky employees will be gone by year-end.

The dismissals don't affect sales representatives in foreign markets; but spokesman Paul Fitzhenry said Tuesday that all of Pfizer's activities are under review. He was unable to immediately provide the number of foreign sales-representatives.

Fitzhenry said the decision on who stays and who goes will be "performance-based." Dismissed sales representatives will receive severance and other benefits based on terms of service, but Fitzhenry didn't provide details about the severance or the evaluation process.

The job cuts are the first action emanating from Kindler's promise in October to begin a "comprehensive look" at the way Pfizer develops and markets drugs and the way it manages its operations.

In September, Kindler reorganized top management to create what he said is "the spirit of a small company" that benefits from the financial and scientific strength of a giant drugmaker.